"The Security Forces Are Afraid That Their Identities Will Be Revealed"

• 8.12.2020, 13:22

Independent journalists are doing an excellent job.

During the protest March of Wisdom in Minsk on December 7, employees of the Belsat TV channel Lubou Luneva and Ivan Kurakevich were detained. They were detained even before the start of the march and taken to a pre-trial detention center.

The TV channel has experienced pressure from the Belarusian authorities before - the journalists were searched; they were not given accreditation and were issued fines for their work.

Aliaksei Dzikavitski, deputy director of the Belsat TV channel, told Current Time how the TV channel's journalists have been working in recent months during the mass protests against the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

- What is now known about the detention of Lubou Luneva and Ivan Kurakevich?

- The latest information is that Luba was taken away by ambulance from Akrestsina Street (pre-trial detention center in Minsk - CT) late in the evening, almost closer to midnight.

The fact is that our colleague not so long ago suffered from COVID-19; therefore, perhaps, some exacerbations are associated with this. We do not know anything yet; I will find out now.

- According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, five journalists of Belsat - Katsiaryna Andreeva, Darja Chultsova, Artsem Bohaslauski, Dzmitry Buyanau, Dzmitry Krauchuk - have been prosecuted. Andreeva and Chultsova are still in the isolation ward. What is the TV channel doing to protect them?

- In a couple of days, we will be 13 years old. And all this time, we have never had accreditation; the Belarusian authorities did not accredit us. We worked all the time under pressure from the authorities: colleagues were arrested, equipment was taken away, we were fined - we have paid more than 130 thousand dollars in fines lately.

But there has never been such a situation that our colleagues, and so many of them, were charged with any criminal articles.

Naturally, this situation is very unpleasant, very difficult. We are doing our best with regard to the legal support of our colleagues. But you understand that when no laws work in Belarus at all, it is not so simple: to defend our colleagues' freedom by legal means. This is, of course, primarily a political decision. We are also trying wherever possible to lobby in the international arena to put pressure on the Belarusian authorities to release our colleagues. Dasha, Katsia, and another colleague Katsiaryna from the tut.by portal have a term of the arrest until January 20, and we very much hope that there won't be imprisonment of up to three years, which threatens under this article, and that they will be released. And, perhaps, they will [be released] earlier.

- You said that 30 of your colleagues had served a total of 341 days since the beginning of the protests. Are those in power succeeding in intimidating journalists now, or does it evoke the opposite emotions?

- More like that now. I counted 364 days - that's almost a whole year. Just think: a whole year. Of course, the authorities have such a goal: to intimidate the journalists of independent mass media. But until now, this has not been done, because despite all these repressions, despite the fact that they are constantly being pressed, when some of the journalists are always in jail - it wasn't like that before, mostly Belsat employees were in jail, if at all, and even then rarely, - nevertheless, independent media continue to work: our television goes on air, portals, news feeds are published every day.

That is why the authorities threaten some of the independent journalists with criminal liability. This will be such a litmus test: they have imprisoned now until January 20 and are looking closely: how are they there, have they shut up or not, have they been put in the stall or not. And if not, then, I think, there will be some kind of escalation, most likely.

The authorities are very distracted by the fact that there are independent media outlets that cover these events. According to experts, even those who were in prison, perhaps the only thing that the so-called security forces are afraid of is that their identities will be revealed, that their data will be on the Web. They are still a little ashamed. They take money for this - because they beat pensioners and young girls with clubs. But to have portraits with names in the media is a shame; it does not let them sleep.